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Professional Agreement Between The Lincoln Public Schools and The Lincoln Education Association
2006 - 2008

ARTICLE IX
COMPENSATION

The basic salary schedules, for 2006-2007 and 2007-2008, included in the Agreement as Appendix A, shall be implemented under the following terms:

9-1 Effective Date of Salary Schedule

The schedule shall become effective on the date the certificated employee reports for the new school year and all payments of wages on or after this date shall be paid according to schedule.

9-2 Salary Lane Adjustments

A. Lane Adjustments
Lane adjustments may be made at any time during the contract year. Certificated employees shall make application on an intent form provided by Human Resources. Salary adjustment resulting from horizontal movement shall be effective on the contract day that all necessary documentation is received by the Human Resources Office and will appear in the certificated employee’s first appropriate paycheck following receipt of the documentation (in September if received during the summer). Necessary documentation shall include: 1) the completed application form, 2) official original graduate transcript(s) and/or 3) staff development transcripts from Lincoln Public Schools.

1. Doctoral Lane - Certificated employees will be placed on the doctoral lane of the certificated employee’s salary schedule when a doctorate degree is granted from a college of education or is in the employee’s instructional field or a related field.

2. Horizontal Advancement Credit - An hour of credit shall be defined as one hour of earned graduate study, or, if approved by the administration in advance, as one hour of upper-division undergraduate study in the certificated employee’s major area or field. Applicants may use upper division courses for horizontal movement if approved by the principal, consultant and Human Resources in advance of the applicant enrolling in the coursework. When a degree is conferred, the hours earned in excess of degree requirements shall be applied to the next salary lane. Effective October 15, 1984, however, only graduate hours conferred after the master degree will apply to the MA+18, MA+36 and Ph.D.

Generally, college credit hours to be used for horizontal advancement must be earned through an institution which is approved by a state educational certification agency or accredited through a regional accrediting agency. Applicants may use college credits from institutions not approved by a state educational certification agency or accredited through a regional accrediting agency for horizontal movement only if approved by Human Resources in advance of the applicant enrolling in the coursework.

3. The MA+18 lane shall be effective for 1982-83. Employees who obtain the BA+72 status prior to January 15, 1983, shall be permitted to remain on said lane. Employees who obtain a BA+72 after January 15, 1984, shall not be placed on said lane of the salary schedule.

B. Step Adjustments

1. Vertical Advancement on Schedule - All certified employees employed under the 2005-2006 contract will move one vertical step, where steps exist, for the 2006-2007 school year. All certified employees employed under the 2006-2007 contract will move one vertical step, where steps exist, for the 2007-2008 school year.

2. When a certificated employee who has been on Step 11 of the BA+18 column for multiple years moves to the BA+36/MA column, the employee will be placed on the step that would have been attained if the employee had not been on Step 11 for multiple years, but the placement will not be beyond Step 17.

9-3 Staff Development Hours

Staff development courses will be acceptable for advancement on the salary schedule in the same manner as item 9-2 above, up to a maximum of 30 hours of credit, except that no credit shall be given for courses taken more than ten (10) years prior to the year they are proposed for salary advancement. In order for the course to count toward salary schedule advancement, the applicant must have been a contracted certificated employee of Lincoln Public Schools during the time the course was taken. However, courses taken during the summer immediately preceding the first year of employment as a certificated employee of Lincoln Public Schools may be used for horizontal advancement. Staff development credit will support horizontal movement only if the applicant paid the appropriate tuition to Lincoln Public Schools at the time the applicant enrolled in the course. Once a certificated employee has qualified for horizontal advancement using staff development hours, that placement shall be considered permanent as if the hours were college hours. Once hours have been used they cannot be reassigned if and when a degree is conferred.

9-4 Prior Acceptable Experience

a. Salary Lane Placement - Newly hired certificated employees with no prior teaching experience will be placed on the first level of the appropriate salary lane.

b. New hires with previous teaching experience shall be placed on the same level on the salary schedule as current employees with the same amount of continuous Lincoln Public Schools experience up to Level 10 on the BA Lane; Level 11 on the BA+18 Lane; and up to Level 21 for 2006-2007 and Level 22 for 2007-2008 on the BA+36/MA, MA+18, MA+36 and Ph.D. Lanes. See charts in Appendix A.

These charts shall be effective only as to certificated employees first hired by Lincoln Public Schools, or reemployed after a break in employment, for the 2006-2007 and 2007-2008 school years, respectively, and for succeeding years. Placement of certificated employees hired by LPS at the end of the 1990-91 school year shall be in accord with the LPS Department of Human Resources document “SALSCHED/TXTBACHI 09/27/90,” entitled, “Initial Placement on Salary Schedule,” which placement shall be binding and effective as to all said certificated teachers for the 1991-92 school year and thereafter and for all years prior thereto.

c. Vocational certification experience will be permanently allowed on the certificated employee salary schedule for employees who teach one or more classes which are eligible for state vocational reimbursement. This experience will be allowed as follows: 1 year experience -business and office education distributive education; home economics related occupations (HERO), trades and industrial education; 2 years experience - agricultural education, and health-related occupation. Effective 1989-90, new hires will not be eligible.

9-5 Temporary Incentive Program

The Temporary Incentive Program shall be available to certificated staff during the 2006-2007 school year only . The Temporary Incentive Program shall be available to employee’s age 55 or older. An employee must have completed ten (10) years of credited service to the Lincoln Public Schools in order to be eligible for the Temporary Incentive Program.

Credited service shall mean employment as a certificated employee of the Lincoln Public Schools, except that authorized leaves of absence without compensation shall be excluded. Full and partial years of credited service shall be added together to calculate a total amount of credited service. A partial year shall not be counted unless there are sufficient partial years to total a full year. Employees shall not be eligible for this plan should they be on unpaid leave in excess of one year immediately prior to electing benefits except that unpaid leave for health reasons which has been preceded by sick leave during which the employees have utilized all sick leave to which they were entitled shall not prevent eligibility.

a. Benefits:

The benefit amount shall be calculated based on total years of credited service to Lincoln Public Schools accrued at the age of 55. Said benefit shall be calculated at age 55 and shall remain constant during the entire eligibility period. No additional credited years of service shall be accumulated after age 55.

1. The first ten (10) years of credited service shall be valued at $200 per year.
2. The next ten (10) years of credited service shall be valued at $400 per year.
3. All additional years of credited service shall be valued at $800 per year.
4. The benefit shall be the total value accumulated by adding 1, 2, and 3 above.

b. Payment:

Certificated employees retiring under this section will be paid the amount due under this plan in one payment, on September 15, 2007. A payment that meets the qualifications of the district non-elective 403 (b) plan will be paid through a contribution to such plan subject to the annual contribution limit under Internal Revenue Code (IRC) section 415. Any amount in excess of the annual contribution limit of IRC section 415 will be paid as taxable compensation to the retiree.

c. Application:

A certificated employee desiring to receive the benefits of this plan should notify the Human Resources Office by April 15 of the year of retirement. Retirement shall be effective as of July 1 of that year. These deadlines may be waived by the Associate Superintendent for Human Resources due to extenuating circumstances.

d. Source of Funds:

The school district shall pay the entire cost of this plan.

e. Administration:

This plan shall be administered by the Board of Education.

f. Health Insurance:

Certificated employees retiring under the provisions of this plan shall have the opportunity to continue health coverage, as governed by COBRA regulations and the underwriting guidelines of the policies.

g. Changes in Regulations or United States Supreme Court Opinion:

In the event the Equal Employment Opportunities Commission (EEOC), adopts regulations or the United States Supreme Court issues an opinion which invalidates this Temporary Incentive Program as outlined in this section, the plan shall be null and void. Adoption of said regulations shall cause the parties to reopen negotiations in an attempt to bring the Temporary Incentive Program into compliance.

9-6 Summer School

Pay for summer school services shall be on the basis of the certificated employee’s extended contract with each period (hour) equal to 1/6 of their daily rate of pay. The pay rate at 1/6 rather than 1/7 daily rate of pay is to acknowledge and compensate summer school teachers for the fact that they will be planning for classes outside the student day.

9-7 Part-time Certificated Employees

Part-time certificated employees shall be paid their daily rate of pay based upon the number of teaching periods/time assigned. The employee’s F.T.E. shall establish the appropriate minutes of prorated planning time. If employees are scheduled with a gap of time in their schedule of more than 50 minutes at the elementary level or more than one period plus passing time at the secondary level a maximum of one hour of pay will be allowed at their per diem hourly rate. Payment of this sum will not increase the employee’s full-time equivalency as determined by the number of assigned class periods per day.

A part-time employee who was a part-time employee under continuing contract during the 2005-2006 school year will receive a part-time employee supplement. The annual supplement will be equal to the difference between the employee's 2005-2006 fringe allocation and the product of the employee's 2006-2007 FTE and the employee's 2005-2006 fringe allocation. For example, a 0.4 FTE employee who received $3,072 in fringe during the 2005-2006 school year will receive an annual supplement of $3,072 - (.4 * $3,072) = $1,843.

After the first contract day of the 2006-2007 school year, the part-time employee supplement will be discontinued immediately if the employee has a change in FTE or if the employee advances horizontally on the salary schedule.

9-8 Teacher Relocation

Teachers move from one classroom to another for a variety of reasons. Under some circumstances, teachers have been paid for the non-contract time they have spent packing, moving, and unpacking. Teachers will continue to be paid for non-contract time for the following:

1. Moving because of construction, renovation, or asbestos removal

2. Moving into a new facility

The following options are available and should be selected by teachers and/or teams/departments based on the specific needs of the building:

1. They can pack, move and unpack their classroom teaching supplies and materials for which they will be reimbursed up to 14 hours at workshop participant rate.

2. They can pack their classroom supplies and materials from the present classroom setting and unpack their classroom supplies and materials at their new classroom setting. Certificated staff will be paid at the workshop participant rate for a number of hours not to exceed 12. In this option, custodial and maintenance employees will move the packed materials.

3. Employees from the custodial and maintenance department of LPS can pack and move all classroom teaching supplies and materials from one location to another. This will occur without the aid of the certificated staff member. The certificated staff member will then be reimbursed at workshop participant rate for classroom rearranging and relocation of supplies and materials in the new setting up to eight hours.

In all of the above options:

1. Individuals from the custodial and maintenance department will move desks, chairs, filing cabinets and other large and small items as designated by the certificated staff member.

2. Custodial and maintenance employees will procure boxes for the certificated staff member and will disassemble and store boxes after the move has been completed.

3. Certificated staff members will not be requested nor required to clean rooms prior to moving materials into the new classroom setting nor to clean rooms after vacating a classroom setting.

Reasonable notice, usually at least two weeks, of the pending move will be given to teachers. The building principal will provide a plan for moving including the reason for the move, the names of teachers involved, and anticipated hours for each to the Associate Superintendent for Instruction. This plan must be submitted prior to the anticipated moving dates.

The number of hours to be reimbursed maybe extended under extenuating circumstances. Such circumstances need to be described by the teacher and principal and a request for additional hours submitted to the Associate Superintendent for Instruction.

There may be other circumstances (e.g. building reorganization) for which compensation for moving is merited. Principals and teachers should submit a request for payment for such situations to the Associate Superintendent for Instruction.

9-9 National Board of Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) Certification

The Lincoln Public Schools and the Lincoln Education Association believe in the importance of NBPTS Certification. In order to encourage staff to pursue Board Certification, the Lincoln Public Schools will provide a scholarship to pay $500 of the initial fee for staff who apply for the program and are selected by the LPS Selection Committee. Depending upon availability of funds, LPS will consider additional scholarship support for staff who do not qualify for the NDE/NSEA scholarships for the remainder of the application fee.

The provisions below apply to all staff who go through the NBPTS Certification Process regardless of how their certification process was funded.

In order to support staff who are going through the NBPTS Certification process, LPS will:

1. Provide up to two days of professional leave per semester to pursue the certification process.

2. Provide support from videotape production staff and equipment.

3. Provided access to the Internet at home.

4. Accept the portfolio required for NBPTS Certification as meeting LPS Summative Appraisal expectations if approved by the building principal.

5. Provide support from professional staff and access to professional publications.

The Lincoln Education Association may provide additional Association Leave to LEA members involved in the NBPTS Certification process with the approval of the LEA President.

Staff who complete the NBPTS Certification Process shall immediately receive a Completion Stipend of $600 from LPS.

Staff who are notified that they are NBPTS Certified shall immediately receive a Certification Bonus of $1000. A subsequent $600 per semester NBPTS Certification Stipend will be paid at the conclusion of each semester from Lincoln Public Schools starting the contract year after certification is received. This stipend will continue for the life of their NBPTS Certification while they remain employees of the Lincoln Public Schools.

A joint LEA/LPS Professional Committee’s Ad Hoc Committee on NBPTS Certification shall be responsible for the implementation of the procedures above. This Committee shall coordinate efforts in LPS to support the National Board Certification process. The Professional Committee shall be responsible for determining the composition of the Ad Hoc Committee and the LPS Selection Committee.

9-10 Defraying the Costs of Continuing Education

The Lincoln Education Association agrees that Lincoln Public Schools may create a program to defray up to actual cost for continuing education to a maximum of thirty-six (36) graduate hours. Such a program shall in no case require anything more from the employee than proof of graduate credit earned at a Nebraska institution of public education. The level of reimbursement and other information regarding the program shall be published annually prior to first quarter at University of Nebraska - Lincoln, and shall remain constant through that year’s summer session.

During the life of this Agreement, the Board of Education may at its discretion, institute a program designed to provide tuition assistance to certificated employees who hold less than a Master’s Degree.

9-11 Funds to Purchase Equipment/Supplies

In 2006-2007 and 2007-2008, the Board of Education agrees that each certificated employee will be allotted a sum of money ($225) to which the certificated employee may voucher purchases of equipment and/or supplies to be used in the classroom or for other work-related projects for non-classroom educators at the employee’s discretion. There will be no further restrictions other than the development of business procedures to be used for reimbursement.

In addition, the employee may use the $225 allotment for professional leave expenses.

Part-time certificated employees will receive a prorated amount.

Guidelines and Procedures for $225 Teacher Allotment

1. Professional leave expenses for workshops, conference, etc. including cost for substitute, transportation and registration will qualify.

2. Professional leave expenses also include dues for professional organizations except LEA, NSEA, and NEA.

3. Professional leave expenses will not include tuition.

4. This allotment cannot be used for any class or activity that could result in horizontal salary advancement.

5. The money may not be accumulated over a several-year period. The allotment is good only during the contract period. Teachers, departments, teams or buildings may not combine their allotments to purchase equipment and/or supplies.

6. Voucher forms will be available in the school office. Dated original invoices, receipts or register tapes need to be attached to the voucher to document all requests. The invoice must show the store name. Titles of books need to be cited. Include a brief written explanation for any unusual items or charges.

7. Limit requests to a minimum of $50. Final claims will be processed for lesser amounts.

8. Receipts and voucher forms may be turned in through June 15 for items purchased by the last teacher work day. Purchases may be made during the summer months and vouchers and receipts may be turned in on the first duty day of that next contract.

9. Part-time staff will receive a prorated amount. This refers not only to FTE, but also the number of days contracted.

10. Purchases will be made at the employee’s discretion. Approval of claims is based on meeting the above criteria and guidelines. There will be no other restrictions.

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